WALES fly-half Stephen Jones insists history will count for nothing in Sunday's World Cup showdown against England.

WALES fly-half Stephen Jones insists history will count for nothing in Sunday's World Cup showdown against England.

The English have won the last five meetings between the two countries, including a record 43-9 triumph at the Millennium Stadium as recently as August. By contrast, Wales have only recorded one victory in 11 attempts - at Wembley in 1999.

But Steve Hansen's team head for Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium emboldened by their invigorating display against New Zealand.

And Scarlets' playmaker Jones says all that matters is the here and now.

"This is a totally one-off game," he said. "History doesn't count for anything.

"Obviously England have dominated the results in the last few years and will be going into the game as firm favourites.

"But you have to believe you can win and that's the attitude we will be adopting.

"There is a huge amount at stake - a semi-final place - and we've got to go out and give it our best shot.

"A lot of people had written us off, but during the course of this tournament our performances have got progressively better.

"Although we lost on Sunday, it was a big high in terms of the performance and one thing we can take out of it is a self belief that we can play."

Wales captured the imagination of the public with their display against New Zealand, playing a thrilling brand of rugby and leading going into the final quarter before eventually losing 53-37.

Jones says the key now is to ensure that four-try performance doesn't prove to be another false dawn.

"We went out and played and backed ourselves and I thought we created a lot of opportunities," he said.

"What was good was that we played with width. The key now is for us to keep on improving and for our performances to get better.

"We can't go back to playing the style of rugby and the patterns of rugby we were six to nine months ago.

"That's just not acceptable now. We can't slip back into our old ways.

"There's no excuses because this team, although it's young, has been together for a considerable amount of time and the youngsters have got experience.

"We have put a lot more respect back into Welsh rugby with our performance against the All Blacks.

"When we hit that bad patch earlier this year a lot of respect was lost and it was important to get that back.

"But we have to put in a performance again this week for the respect to be enhanced, because it's no good playing as badly as we did a couple of months ago.

"We can't go backwards after putting in a good performance. We have to go in against England and replicate that display.

"We have to make sure everything is done correctly this week. It's up to individuals to get their heads on and I'm sure they will.

"England are very physically strong in the contact area and we are going to have to be a lot better in that aspect of the game if we want to compete against them. They will be particularly strong in set-pieces as well.

"When you are playing the likes of England, if you do make errors then you are going to be punished. So we have to be on top of our game."

On a personal note, the 25-year-old Jones has returned to form after making an indifferent start to his World Cup against Tonga.

He shone as a replacement against Italy and had one of his best games for Wales in Sunday's colossal clash with the Kiwis in Sydney.

"Coming out here I hadn't played much rugby," he said.

"When I play for Llanelli it's a situation where you tend to play most weeks. I like playing every week to try and get into a run and feel comfortable.

"I've felt a lot more comfortable since the games have started to come in this tournament."

Added Jones, "It's very difficult to describe the feelings you experience when you play international rugby, especially when you play for Wales.

"Some moments you are up and others you are down in the dumps, but it's not through a lack of effort."